Black Mountains Gliding Club

The Black Mountains Gliding Club (BMGC), also known as Talgarth Gliding Club is a members' gliding club near the town of Talgarth. It is situated 970 feet above sea level, within the Brecon Beacons National Park. The club offers a varitey of gliding lessons and courses, to solo standard - and provides aerotows for those who wish to fly their own craft. The site consists of a clubhouse (including toilets, showers, a briefing room and kitchen) and two hangars - one for the club-owned gliders and the main tug (Eurofox) and the other is for the backup tug (Pawnee) and any craft that require maintenance. The surrounding, mountainous landscape allows for a variety of gliding techniques, including ridge lift and wave lift.

The initial formation of the gliding club came after a farmer, Derrik Eckley, and amateur pilot, John Bally, came into contact in the Spring of 1978, and decided to utilise a small area of Derrik's farmland, near to the town of Talgarth. A primitive grass landing strip was leveled in an East/West direction and an Auster Tugmaster was flown in by John from Shobdon Airfield, which was the first landing at the new site. In 1979, Herefordshire Gliding Club was selling a Rallye Tug and a Blaník glider, which Derrick and John purchased - which was the club's first set of serviceable aircraft.

Derrick and John needed to contact the Brecon Beacons National Park (BBNP) for permission to formally utilise the site, which was initially turned down. A demonstration flight was then set up for members of the BBNP planning committee, to show that gliding would be a quiet and non-confrontational activity. Subsequently, planning permission was granted, however the club was forbidden to operate on bank holidays. Through successive appeal hearings and further demonstrations, including a low flypast of two RAF Hawk Jets in 1985 to show the difference in noise levels, a new operational plan was produced and all blockades that Derrick and John had appealed, were amended.^[1]

• 4 x Schleicher ASK 13s
• 1 x Schleicher Ka 6 (privately owned, but still available for member use)
• 1 x SZD-51 Junior

• 1 x Aeropro Eurofox 2k
• 1 x Piper PA-25 Pawnee

The Eurofox is used for regular, everyday club operation. In cases of technical defects with the aircraft, the Pawnee can be used as a backup tug, to keep the club operational. Aerotow is the only option with regards to launching - there is no winch to facilitate winch-launches.^[2]

• [1]
• British Gliding Association
• 'The Story of the Black Mountains Gliding Club'